War Zone
by thelastredshirt
Summary: A peacekeeping unit is ambushed while on patrol in the ruins of post-World War III Berlin. Can they make it out alive? AU.
1. Ambush!

Hello again, readers! I'm taking a short break from Hunting Shadows because it's suddenly turned into a much longer project than what I envisioned at first. So, I've written this 2 or 3 part fic to fill in while I'm busy dealing with (real) life and its associated complications (like college).

Please enjoy!

DISCLAIMER - I dinnae own Gundam SEED/SEED DESTINY.

--  
War Zone - Ambush!  
--

A patrol of grey painted vehicles snaked through the streets of war-torn Berlin and split into pairs. Bright headlights threw deep shadows as the armoured personnel carriers picked their way around piles of rubble and debris. Europe had almost ripped itself apart after decades of economic depression. Germany's industries suffered severe losses compared to those of the other Eurasian Federation member nations. With a civil war on his hands, the Chancellor asked for UN peacekeepers to diffuse the situation. The UN, after a short session, agreed and Orb sent in a mechanised expeditionary unit to help keep the peace. Other nations also deployed troops into Germany and the surrounding countries. Berlin had been the unfortunate target of nuclear weapons in World War III but was now safely rid of radiation, thanks to the micromachines of the Japanese Miracle. However the city was still in ruins and the government had been transplanted to Munich until Germany could be rebuilt. The once glorious city was left to the revolutionaries.

"Quiet night, eh, Yzak?" Dearka commented as he steered around the burned out shell of a city bus.

Yzak grunted. As duly appointed section leader, he led eight soldiers; four in the Zephyr scout car he was riding shotgun in and the rest in the larger Warthog Infantry Fighting Vehicle trailing behind. He should have been riding in the Warthog, but the silver haired Coordinator disliked sitting in a metal box that tended to draw attention and bullets.

Athrun checked his rifle's safety again. "For you, any night without a trip to the bar is quiet."

"I can't help it. It's just that I miss Milly, you know?" Dearka had popped the question to his girlfriend of five years just days before the unit received marching orders.

"You do?" Yzak scoffed. "The way you've been acting since we got here makes me think you're not quite ready for marriage."

The car fell silent again as they approached an open intersection. Wary eyes searched through the dusty twilight air for signs of movement in darkened buildings.

"Clear left," Kira whispered from the back seat, as if the insurgents could hear him through the car's armour.

Athrun said, "Clear right."

Suddenly, something behind them flashed and they were slammed back into their seats.

Instinctively, Dearka stomped on the brake pedal and the car ground to a halt, halfway into the intersection.

"What the hell was-"

An object poked out of a window across the street. Yzak commanded, "Back up! Back up!"

"RPG!" someone in the rear screamed.

Dearka hastily slammed the car into reverse and watched as a rocket streaked through their former position and detonated against the ground. He stole a look at the rear view mirror to see a dark hulk approach at an alarming rate.

"Everyone out!"

It was impossible to tell who was giving orders. Yzak and Athrun dove out into the middle of the street and scrambled for cover behind a pile of broken concrete. On the other side, Dearka and Kira ducked into a wrecked shop.

The empty scout car continued backwards to smash into the ruins of the Warthog. The IFV lay on its side and Kira was easily able to see a gaping hole in the bottom that was not there when they went out on patrol a few hours earlier. Pieces of twisted metal lay scattered and patches of flame denoted where splashes of burning fuel had landed.

Tolle, Rusty, Nicol and Miguel were never going to see Orb's sparkling oceans again.

Kira kneeled behind a pillar and shouldered his rifle. Across the street, a dark figure leaned out a window and he placed the aiming reticle squarely on the target. He squeezed gently on the trigger and was rewarded with a pink mist where the man's head had been. Beside him, Dearka had finally gotten the MG36 in position and opened fire on the second floor. Kira took the opportunity to signal Yzak and Athrun.

--

Athrun barely took notice of Kira's shot, but Dearka's long bursts of fire certainly caught his attention. He turned to his left to see Kira waving them over. The Coordinator nodded and tapped Yzak's helmet, signalling that he was going ahead.

He fired a few more shots and rose to a crouch, only to be thrown to the ground moments later. The impact knocked the wind out of him, leaving him on his back staring at the sky. Athrun heard flames off to his left and saw the Zephyr in flames. Two dark figures appeared on either side.

"Get moving, Athrun!"

One reached down and extended his free hand. Shaking his head in an attempt to silence the ringing in his ears, Athrun stood up and retrieved his rifle. The three made their way safely across the street without further incident. Hostile fire gradually diminished as the four picked off anyone who fired on them.

"What happened?" he asked Kira.

"RPG came down from across the street and killed the Zephyr," Kira answered. "You were knocked backwards. Good thing you two were lying down." The brunet showed him a cut on his cheek where his sheltering column had not blocked a piece of shrapnel.

The fireteam searched the wreckage of both vehicles, but they found no usable supplies and Yzak called it off after a ten minutes. There was no telling when the insurgents would return and being caught in the street was a deadly situation to be avoided at all costs. Dearka found a door in the back of the shop and the four ventured upstairs, checking for an enemy presence. Eventually, they came to a room overlooking deadly intersection where they stopped to take stock of their condition.

Dearka, the machine gunner, had his gun along with two belts of ammunition. His assistant, Kira, carried another two belts along with his own G36K rifle and its magazines. He and Yzak were equipped with M203 grenade launchers but rounds for those were sparse. Athrun's own G36 was accurised and fitted with a carry handle-mounted scope, compared to the rest of the team's nonmagnified sights. Each carried a standard USP pistol, several fragmentation grenades and a knife. The rest of the pooled supplies amounted to two first aid kits, a lockpick set and a portable field radio.

Yzak elected to try and contact the rest of the platoon with the radio.

"Joule Team to La Flaga."

"This is La Flaga," the Lieutenant answered. "Go ahead, Joule Team." Gunfire sounded in the background along with the loud cacophony of a Warthog's Bushmaster II chaingun firing.

"Sir, we were ambushed in Sector Three One Two. They took out both the track and the scout car. We're down to half strength."

"Sorry, Joule Team. We're taking heavy fire right now. Command says that hotspots are popping up all around the city. Find a hole and-"

A sudden rush of static drowned out the rest of the message. Yzak sent another burst transmission but the unit didn't have nearly enough power to cut through the jamming.

"Oh shit," Dearka breathed from his overwatch position by the window. He had the group's only surviving night vision goggles and was using it to scan the darkened streets.

Athrun peered out a nearby window, but could not see anything. "What is it?"

"They're coming up the street." He passed Yzak the goggles and pointed out the window. "Look, along the sides of the buildings."

Gunfire erupted from the stairwell outside. The door flew open and Kira appeared in the doorway, out of breath.

"They came in through the back entrance. It won't be long until they figure out we're upstairs."

Yzak snapped into action. "Dearka, you and Kira hold them off in the hallways outside. Athrun, find any leaders in the street and kill them." As the others moved into positions, he returned to the radio to try and contact any friendly forces before they were overwhelmed. He pulled out a sheet of paper with channel numbers written on it. Yzak scanned the list and tried to broadcast on Orb's channels but received nothing but white noise. Frustrated, he set the unit to skip randomly on friendly channels.

"Lima Romeo Romeo Papa One Three to any friendly units."

"One Three, this-"

The display readout settled on a channel marked Artillery Support Net. He adjusted a knob and sent another message. "This is One Three. Say again."

This time, the reception was much better. "One Three, this is Command Mike November Victor. Authenticate Zeromus."

Yzak rubbed his head as he tried to remember what the proper response was. The day's challenge code for Orb artillery units was Hotel Zulu so whoever was on the network was probably an Allied detachment. That would make the person on the other end of the line a ZAFT soldier as the Atlantic Federation was deployed all the way across Berlin, out of the radio's range.

"November Victor, authentication Dante."

"Confirmed, welcome to the net."

Yzak pulled out a map sheet and consulted his GPS unit. "Fire mission. Position at Grid 65710. Target is 65724."

"Affirmative. Target position is 65724. Stand by, One Three."

Athrun fired a trio of shots at the approaching enemies, but killing the leaders wasn't enough to hold them back.

"Dearka! I need some help over here!"

Dearka ran back into the room and set up his MG36 on the windowsill. He could not see any targets below but his blind fire encouraged their foes to stay behind cover. Together the two managed to temporarily stem the flow of reinforcements, but Yzak knew that there would not be enough ammunition for them to hold out all night, despite scavenging ammunition and guns from fallen soldiers.

A rocket struck the side of the building and Yzak dove to protect the radio from debris.

"November Victor, now would be a good time!"  
--

Please leave a review. Thanks!

Oh yeah, for some reason, people keep reading Chapter 3 of Hunting Shadows. I don't know why, but it's really strange...

redshirt


	2. Recovery

EDIT: I posted this earlier, but I took it down because I wanted to make some changes.

I don't know how I managed to get this done in the middle of Midterms, but here it is. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED / SEED DESTINY. Do you really need me to say this?

--  
War Zone - Recovery  
--

"One Three, ranging round on the way. Danger close."

Yzak looked up to observe the impact of the artillery shell. Their building was situated on a hillside, simplifying the task of guiding artillery in an urban area. Over the racket of gunfire he heard the familiar freight train rumble of incoming artillery. The quiet rumble grew deafeningly loud until it was replaced by the crump of detonation and a bright flash of light.

"One hundred yards closer!" Whatever November Victor was firing, it was more powerful than anything he had ever experienced in training. "And be careful with those hundred yards!"

"Roger that, one hundred yards closer to your position. Round on the way."

It was if a giant flashbulb had lit off across the street and Athrun yelled from across the room as light overloaded his NVG. The next round must have landed on an ammunition stockpile or a fuel dump, judging from the secondary explosions and fires spilling out onto the street.

Slightly deafened, he shouted into the radio, "Pour it on! Fire for effect!"

"Affirmative," The girl on the other end said. "Find somewhere to hide. Minerva is on the way."

Yzak paled. That explained the artillery's enormous impact; Minerva was ZAFT's newest land battleship with a primary armament of ten 18" cannons. They threw a heavier shell than both Orb's Archangel and Izumo-class battleships' 16" guns, but their fire was also slightly less precise.

"Athrun, Dearka! Get in the hallway!" he yelled before grabbing his equipment and the radio.

--

Massive automated lifters retrieved cannon shells and bags of propellant from armoured storage below decks. Meanwhile, turrets rotated to the correct azimuth and gun barrels adjusted for proper elevation. Well trained crew members stood by and made sure equipment functioned within standard parameters. A signal raced down from the Combat Information Centre.

"Fire."

--

Kira cautiously opened the door and led the way out of the basement. From the intersection the section had been ambushed, he could see that the past hour of continuous shelling from Minerva had devastated the entire intersection and levelled almost everything downhill. The Coordinator kicked at a random piece of rubble lying in the street and took a sip of water.

They were alone in a city once again consumed by war, cut off from their platoon. Minerva had since moved on to taskings from ZAFT forces and she did not have the capability to play telephone operator and fire support at the same time. It was amazing how after such a terrible bombardment that everything seemed peaceful when illuminated by the full moon. The few clouds in the sky reflected and scattered the moonlight and enhanced the feeling of detachment from the rest of the world

Athrun sat down on the edge of a crater next to Kira. "Thanks for getting me out earlier."

"No problem. Cagalli'd kill me if I let anything happen to you."

Dearka also came over, having tired of bothering Yzak. "I thought you were a goner for sure. You and Yzak went down in that explosion and then only he got back up." He sighed and laid back on the crater wall. "I could really use a smoke right now."

Yzak smacked the Dearka's helmet as he too sat down. "You know Milly doesn't like that. Still..." He whipped out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter and passed them around. "Brand new synthcigs. Guaranteed not to cause cancer or cause addiction."

Athrun gave Yzak a suspicious look as Dearka took a cigarette. "Yzak, where'd you get these?"

"Shut up. Just because I'm being nic-"

Kira erupted into a fit of coughing and Dearka reached over to pat his back. "You'll get used to it," Dearka reassured him.

"Or not," said Athrun. "Lacus will have your head, Kira."

"So anyways, I finally got through to Lieutenant La Flaga," Yzak cut in. "We're to meet up with them at the bottom of the hill in an hour."

Dearka muttered, "An hour to get down the hill? Maybe we should take a nap while we're at it."

A loud crack and a small puff of dirt in the middle of the crater punctuated his sentence.

"Sniper!" Dearka yelled.

"No shit!"

Everyone scrambled to reach cover in the building they had just spent hours waiting in. Kira glanced at the tall structure looming behind their former shelter. Something glinted in the moonlight. Another shot rang out and Kira let out a cry as he fell to the ground. Athrun turned back to grab Kira as he fell but missed.

"Dearka, help me!"

Dearka ran over and together the two managed to drag Kira to safety. They laid him down on his back and searched for a wound.

Yzak threw them an aid kit. "Where's he hit?"

"I don't know," Athrun replied as he tilted Kira's head back to open his air passages. He really was not the most qualified to do this, but Nicol, the section medic had departed from the world.

Dearka found a hole in Kira's ballistic vest. "Found the hole, but there's no blood." The machine gunner was about to strip off the armour when Kira suddenly jerked alive.

"I think I'm fine. Thanks guys," he managed to say between breaths. "The sniper's in the building behind us. Fifth or sixth floor, maybe."

Yzak passed over the brunet's rifle. "Alright, we'll take the back streets and clear out that building."

--

Dearka slowly climbed up the stairs, checking every landing for traps. The structure was riddled with gaping holes that let in the moonlight. Faint footprints in the dust indicated someone had been there before them and he continued to ascend until they stopped abruptly on the sixth floor. He edged through the doorway and the other three fanned out to cover the long hallway.

Yzak lead Kira and Athrun down the hallway, checking every room. The first was empty and so were the second and third. When he opened the fourth, there was a small click.

"Oh shi-"

He and Kira dove backwards out of the way, but Athrun was at the end of the hall and could only turn away from the blast. The blue-haired soldier grunted as steel fragments peppered his side. With his right hand, Athrun pulled out a frag grenade and bounced it off the shattered doorway. Another explosion shook the walls and he went prone on the floor.

"Do it!" Athrun shouted.

Dearka, who had run forward when Yzak and Kira dove backwards, nodded and fired at waist level through the office wall. He worked the gunfire back and forth to cover the entire interior of the room. The blond ceased fire when he was confident that anyone inside was dead. Yzak sliced off Athrun's uniform and began dressing the wounds while Kira and Dearka swept through the room. They found a single bloody body clutching a sniper rifle.

"Looks like you got him, Athrun, and then Dearka chewed him up," Kira reported.

"Good." Yzak checked his watch. "We've got ten minutes to get downhill."

Athrun stood up. "Ten minutes? I can make it, but I won't be able to shoot."

"Kira, stay with Athrun and make sure you don't fall behind. Move out."

--

The four burst out of the ground floor emergency exit, minus the caution that had cost them precious minutes earlier. Tracing their way back through the streets, they raced to rendezvous with Lieutenant La Flaga. Soon, the rumble of approaching vehicles filled the air.

"Move your sorry asses!" Yzak shouted.

The Lieutenant's convoy ground to a halt on the main road and troops spilled out. Kira and Athrun scrambled in the nearest Warthog while Yzak and Dearka stayed outside momentarily to provide cover.

Dearka tapped the driver's shoulder. "Let's roll."

--

Athrun laid a bouquet of flowers on a small black grave marker. Four days ago, they had retrieved the bodies of their fallen comrades from the ambush site. Though the bodies had been sent home, the four built a small memorial by the camp's entrance.

Four pairs of boots clicked together. Four arms swung out and snapped back. Four fingertips touched eyebrows and stayed motionless before returning to their former positions.

"How's the arm, Athrun?" A concerned voice.

A calm reply. "Another three days before I can return for duty. How are the new guys working out?"

"Damn brats. I swear Asuka going to be a worse pain in the ass than you." A waving fist.

A chuckle. "Come on, Yzak. They aren't that bad."

"Shut up. You try giving that stupid kid orders." A pair of boots stomping away.

Another laugh. "Dearka, you can't win against him."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Another pair of boots shuffle away.

A weary smile. "Listen, Athrun. We have to head out now. See you when we get back."

"Yeah, later, Kira."

Athrun stood at the memorial as he watched three friends disappear through the swirling dust.

Who would survive and who would die?

They were joined by another four figures who fell into formation.

Who would go on ahead and who would be left behind?

He watched the friendly antics and the playful banter.

Who had seen their last sunrise this morning?

He looked up at the clear blue sky.

Who would see tomorrow's sunrise?  
--

Sorry if the end got a bit confusing; I wanted to try a different writing style.

Please review. Thanks!

redshirt


End file.
